Blackhat: FX Director's Cut - Review

Blackhat (2015) (Director's Cut - Aired on FX)

Director: Michael Mann

Michael Mann is a director known for changing his works...and changing them again...and changing them again. Sometimes, the changes are for the good of the film. Sometimes? His revisits and restructuring seems completely unnecessary. Take Mann's 2006 film Miami Vice as a perfect example of where the theatrical cut shines over the "unrated" cut of the film.

Even with Mann's hit or miss record when it comes to these alternate cuts, I found myself intrigued when I heard that he had reworked his 2015 film Blackhat.

I saw Blackhat the week it came out in January of 2015. My thoughts were that it was a good film, but not a great film. It certainly didn't reach the heights of Mann's Miami Vice or Collateral, though one could definitely see the same visual bricks from those films being used to build Blackhat. It certainly didn't deserve the critical lashing that it received, but was it up there with the best of Mann's work? No.

The plot, which shares more similarities to 1986's Manhunter than the previously mentioned films, follows a jailed blackhat hacker, played by Chris Hemsworth, as he works with law enforcement to capture a cyber terrorist who causes a rise in the price of soy stock. The hacker quickly follows with an attack on a nuclear reactor in China. This is where the differences between the theatrical cut and the director's cut begin, and this is probably the most significant difference between the two. At the beginning of the theatrical cut, we start with the attack on the nuclear reactor, and then later in the film we see the hacking of the soy prices.

However it's structured, Blackhat just doesn't live up to the standards that Mann's previous films have set. The use of handheld DV photography is still some of the best in the business, with an authenticity and a yellow, dirty city feel that is not easily replicated. Or pretty, for that matter. The action sequences are topnotch, with the shootouts being a gigantic adrenaline rush that keeps the viewer going until the end of the film. But the downfall? The hacking.

How does one make a film about hackers, realistic or not, and make it interesting? In Manhunter, Graham's quest to find this killer, whom he has never met, is a fascinating mix of research, psychology, and good old fashioned libel. Graham puts himself in the killer's shoes, and uses that ability to ultimately find and stop The Great Red Dragon. In this film, Hathaway puts himself in the shoes of a nameless hacker, and then gets on the computer and types a bunch of stuff. It's not thrilling. It's not intense. It's just a guy on a computer.

Ultimately, the action sequences and overall classic Mann look are enough to save this piece. The restructuring, for me at least, does little to help or harm the film, though it does make a little more sense in terms of storytelling. A hacker should start small before going big and blowing up a nuclear reactor in China, right?

Grade: B